


Mystery In Pelican Town

by HazelnutofFortune



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Posession, Character Turned Into a Ghost, F/F, Gen, Ghosts, M/M, Murder Mystery, Mystery solving, and by that i mean he dies, teen romp
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:21:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25265269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HazelnutofFortune/pseuds/HazelnutofFortune
Summary: When Shane dies mysteriously, Alex, Abigail, Maru, Sam and Sebastian summon him to ask him how exactly his life ended.It turns out he doesn't remember, and it's up to the six of them to figure out who, exactly, is responsible.
Relationships: Abigail & Alex (Stardew Valley), Abigail & Sam & Sebastian (Stardew Valley), Abigail/Maru (Stardew Valley), Maru & Sebastian (Stardew Valley), Sam/Sebastian (Stardew Valley), Shane & Everybody
Comments: 18
Kudos: 53





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so so much to Beck @lilyfrogart on tumblr for helping me develop this au and Bree @tehmoonofficial (ao3) for beta'ing!! I could never have written this without both of you guys :)

Alex

Alex, carelessly, does not knock. He opens the door, preparing to call out to Haley, when he hears raised voices from the kitchen. He hates walking into Haley and Emily’s fights. Haley gets loud and pitchy when she’s mad, but Alex only hears Emily, her slightly lower register distinct.

Emily is talking louder now, practically yelling, so Alex creeps through the open door and listens. He doesn’t think he’s ever heard her this upset.

“They’re not taking it seriously…I told the officer he had to look further into it, but he just told me this kind of stuff happens when people drink too much. I know exactly how alcohol works, and I knew how it worked for him!”

She falls silent. For a moment, Alex worries he’s been caught, but then he realizes, guiltily, that she’s crying. “Maybe it really was an accident. But I can’t believe they’d just leave it like that. It’s not fair to him or the people who cared about him…Yeah. Thank you for listening, Clint. I should check on Marnie.” Alex hears the click of the phone as she drops it in the cradle, and he feels dread start to gather in his stomach.

“Emily?” Alex calls, and crosses the familiar living room into the kitchen, where things are different already. The dishes are sitting unwashed in the sink. Emily’s face is in her hands, and she’s weeping. Her hair haloes her head, wild and blue, and Alex's heart swells in his chest with sympathy.“What happened?”

“Alex,” she says, and her eyes are rimmed with red. She pulls him into a hug, and Alex startles, but draws his arms around her. They stand that way for a moment. Alex shifts awkwardly on his feet, but he does not step away. She opens her mouth, and Alex wants to hide from what she’s about to say. Even more than he aches to leave the tense space between knowing and not, he doesn’t want things to change.

“Shane is… they found him on the beach, this morning.” She draws back a little and looks Alex in the eyes. He watches her chin tremble, tracks the progress of a tear down her cheek. He’s not going to cry. Alex needs to be strong. It was the only useful thing his dad ever taught him.

“Was he…” Alex trails off. His face gets hot and his throat tightens. He feels stupid for asking, because he doesn’t want to hear her say it.

“He was dead, Alex.” 

Oh.

~

  
  
  


Alex knows he isn’t smart. He’s not good at stuff like this. But, he thinks, Abigail is. 

He sprints across town before he can talk himself out of his own bad idea. He runs headfirst into Leah, who has never liked him, but who looks now like she would throttle him if two dead bodies weren’t too many for one day.

“You should watch where you’re going,” Leah snaps, and Alex thinks that even if she lives in a kitchenless cabin now, the citygoer in her is showing.

“Uh, sorry,” he says, “I was in a hurry?” 

“So was I,” Leah says, and her face softens a little. “I’ve left Elliott alone for too long already.” Her arms are filled with groceries, Alex realizes.

Alex doesn’t know why Elliott needs her to buy him groceries, exactly, but calls out an “I hope he feels better soon” at her back as she abruptly turns away from him and starts to walk out towards the beach. 

Anyway. Back to the Plan. He’s gotta stay focused. 

He enters Pierre’s feeling a little sheepish, but the look Caroline shoots him is absolutely sympathetic.

“Alex!” She turns from restocking the shelves. “Are you alright? I know things are…weird, right now. You look flushed.”

“Uh, hi,” he scuffs his shoe on the floor. “I’m okay. Can I see Abigail, please?”

“Of course,” she frowns. “I didn’t know you two were friends.”

“Oh, uh. Yeah,” he blusters. “It’s good to be friends with everybody in a town this small.”

“Yes,” she says, and her face crumples just a little. “Which makes it even more sad when we lose someone. It hurts the whole community. ”

“Yeah,” Alex looks down at his feet. He didn’t mean to bring it back to that.

They stop outside a door that Alex assumes leads to Abigail’s room. Caroline puts her hand on his shoulder.

“You can always talk to me, you know. I know it might be hard for you, without your parents, but I don’t want you to feel like you don’t have support.”

“Thank you,” he says, and means it. “Really, I appreciate it.”

“I’m glad.” Caroline releases his shoulder and knocks.

“Abby, sweetheart? Alex is here to see you.”

Abigail comes to the door, still in pajamas, and Alex starts to have second thoughts about his Plan. Abigail is intimidating, regardless of how she’s dressed. The pajamas only serve to make him feel even more like he’s intruding.

“Well, I’ll be in the front if you guys need anything!” Caroline tells them, trying to smile. There goes Alex’s only lifeline.

“Hey, Alex,” she says, and gestures into her room. “Come in.”

“Abigail, I need your help.” Alex looks around at Abigail’s room, and finds her posters utterly foreign to him; another reminder that they’re not friends.

“Oh,” Abigail replies, sitting down in front of her console. “I wondered why you were here. Okay, let it all out. I won’t judge. I mean, it’s not the ideal day to have a gay awakening, but-”

“I’m not gay!”Alex yelps. This was exactly what he was afraid of. Alex chooses not to think about why Abigail analyzing his sexuality is scary. “This is serious.”

“No offense.” She unpauses the game, but turns to look at him, indirectly killing her character. “But unless it’s really, really serious, maybe it could wait? I didn’t know Shane all that well, but even I need some time.”

Alex doesn’t know how to say what he needs to say.

“I mean, if you just want to chill in here and watch me play video games, that’s cool too,” Abigail continues. “And if you ever do need advice on gay stuff, then-”

“We need to summon Shane’s ghost!” Alex shouts. Abigail drops the controller.

“Okay, what the fuck?”

Alex pulls his shoulders in. He feels so stupid.

She studies him. Alex hates the feeling of her eyes on him. He’s not enough.

“You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“...Yeah.”

“Okay.”

“Really?” Alex jerks his head up so fast he gets a little dizzy.

“I mean, yeah? I’ve never actually summoned a ghost before, but I have some books and-”

“Thank you!” Alex cheers, and throws his arms around her. Abby puts a hand on the floor behind her to steady herself and brings the other one up to pat Alex on the back a little awkwardly.

“I’m glad you’re happy, but, uh. Maybe ease up on the touching?” Abby says. She’s smiling, though.

“Sorry.” Alex lets her go, feeling embarrassed at his sincerity.

“Also,” Abby starts, “If we’re conducting a  Séance tomorrow , I am definitely going to make Sam and Sebastian participate.”

“Oh, cool,” Alex says, and dredges up a memory of a Spirit’s Eve long past. “Isn’t Sam afraid of ghosts?”

“Yep,” Abby replies. “He’ll agree to do it if Sebastian does, though.”

~

Sebastian 

SAMMYROCKS555: R u sure this is a good idea ??

SEBASTIANSUSERNAMEHERE: yeah we dont really know Alex at all

SEBASTIANSUSERNAMEHERE: isnt he a misogynist or a homophobe or something like that

ABOOGAIL: rlly???

SEBASTIANSUSERNAMEHERE: i mean i haven't heard anything but he gives off Vibes

ABOOGAIL: sebastian vibes are not enough

SAMMYROCKS555: I have nothing against Alex personally but like cmon 

SAMMYROCKS555: Why are vibes not an argument now but they were last week when u told us eating amethysts gave u good vibes

SEBASTIANSUSERNAMEHERE: good point sam

ABOOGAIL: wow guys prejudiced much!

ABOOGAIL: alex is cool!!

SEBASTIANSUSERNAMEHERE: why do you say that

SAMMYROCKS555: Yeah now i wanna know Why Alex Is Cool

SEBASTIANSUSERNAMEHERE: wait you guys aren’t a thing right.

SAMMYROCKS555: Omg

SAMMYROCKS555: I thought she liked Maru tho ???

SEBASTIANSUSERNAMEHERE: ugh dont remind me. 

SAMMYROCKS: I think its cute !!

SAMMYROCKS555: Imagine if they got married and you were related !!

SEBASTIANSUSERNAMEHERE: yeah bc another sister is exactly what i need

ABOOGAIL: while yall were gossiping like old ladies i got some evidence to back up my claims

ABOOGAIL UPLOADED lookguyshescool.png

SAMMYROCKS555: Aww!!!

SEBASTIANSUSERNAMEHERE: i am not convinced.

SEBASTIANSUSERNAMEHERE: like yes that is a cute picture but come on we’re not that shallow

SEBASTIANSUSERNAMEHERE: right sam?

SAMMYROCKS555: Idk sebby this is pretty damning evidence !!

SAMMYROCKS555: Hes good with animals! Look how Happy the dog looks !

SEBASTIANSUSERNAMEHERE: he could have bribed it to look happy for the picture.

ABOOGAIL: i took the picture, so no he did not ‘bribe the dog’

ABOOGAIL: cmon guys pleeease

SEBASTIANSUSERNAMEHERE: no.

SAMMYROCKS555: Ill do it if Seb agrees ig :/

ABOOGAIL: why not!!

ABOOGAIL: maybe your mom will stop complaining abt how u never get out of the house if u do it!

ABOOGAIL: also im gonna dm u guys and i bet after that youll agree ;)

SAMMYROCKS555: Yeah okay ill do it

SEBASTIANSUSERNAMEHERE: …..fine

~

Sebastian does not want to do this stupid thing. He decides, as soon as Abigail has goaded him into it with embarrassing photos (blackmail is a low blow, even for her) that he is going to be begrudging every step of the way.

This is only further magnified when Maru decides she has to butt in on this, too.

“Sebastian!” She had said, crossing the lawn to meet him. “Can I come to the spirit meeting Abigail is having? She invited me, but I thought I should ask.”

She’d looked so afraid of rejection. “I don’t want to butt in-”

“It’s fine. Alex is there too, so it’s not, like, a friend thing.”

“Oh,” Maru says. “Okay.”

“Yeah.” Sebastian tells himself he’s not gonna snark at her just because he doesn’t believe in ghosts. She’s certainly better company than Alex, in any case.

~

The five of them end up gathered in Abby’s room.

“Okay, gang!” Abby says. She is somehow the de-facto leader. Sebastian watches Maru watch her with some degree of detached fascination.

“Are we gonna do a chant like in the scouts or something?” Sam asks. “I always wanted to lead the chant, but we moved here way before I was old enough to be a scout leader.”

“We’re not gonna do a chant, Sam.” 

“Actually, I don’t know,” Alex says. “Maybe we  _ should  _ do a chant.”

It’s only the second time he’s spoken, and Sebastian feels a little weird about it. Logically, Alex should be a bigger douche than this. 

“Okay, fine,” Abby grants, ever the benevolent ruler. “Sam, you can do a chant.”

“Okay,” Sam says. “When I was in the scouts, the leader would say ‘Scooby Dooby Doo’ and we’d say ‘where are you’.”

“Sam.” Sebastian says.

“Yeah, Sebby?”

“That is awful.”

“Aww, c’mon! It might be objectively stupid but it’s also fun!”

“Aren’t we doing this to solve a murder, though?” Maru asks. “Maybe fun shouldn’t be the first priority here.”

Sam pouts. “Yeah, but. I don’t know. I thought we could use a morale boost?”

“I guess so,” Maru says, pulling some tupperware from her backpack.. “I mean, I brought brownies for that exact reason, but-”

“You have brownies?” Sam asks. Maybe to him, this isn’t that weird. 

“Of course Maru brought brownies. She’s the best.”

Maru beams, and extends the tupperware. “Thank you, Abigail.”

Alex eats one of the proffered brownies. “Maru,” he masticates. “I love you.”

And then he flushes bright red.

“I mean,” he’s stammering. “Uh. These are really good!”

Sebastian is charmed.

“Thanks!” Maru says, avoiding the faux pas entirely. “I used two different kinds of chocolate chips!”

“Wow,” Sam says. “Alex was right. I also love you.”

Sebastian is jealous in two directions, something he previously hadn’t known possible.

~

“No, listen, guys.” Alex says. He finally seems comfortable in his skin after over an hour of what has amounted to mostly just a lot of brownie-eating and chat. “You know how the book said we need an object the person was close to in life?” He gestures towards a huge tome sitting in Maru’s lap. “I know who can help us get something like that, and I still don’t think we should bother Marnie.”

“Who?” Maru asks, flipping to the page that Alex is referring to.

“Well, he went to the saloon a lot, right?”

“Yeah,” Sam replies. And Sebastian remembers again that he knew Shane better than anyone else here.

“Definitely,” Abby says. “I saw him there all the time.”

~

The Stardrop is open, but Sebastian is not surprised by the framed picture of Shane that is sitting on the counter. Two candles are lazily flickering on either side, and Sebastian watches as a bead of wax slides down towards the base of the candle. It hardens quickly into the grain of the wooden counter. Rigor Mortis only takes two to six hours to set in.

Sebastian shakes his head free of gruesome thoughts and turns to look at Sam.

“Hi, Gus,” Sam says. He was supposed to be the talker, they’d decided. 

“Hi, Sam.” Gus responds. He looks too tired for small talk.

“Shane came here a lot,” Sam starts. It’s awkward, even for him.

“He did.” 

“Do you know,” Sam draws his finger through the hardened wax, and Sebastian tracks his hand. “If he left anything behind?”

“Yes,” Gus says, gesturing across the counter towards the stool Shane had favored. “That’s his jacket. I keep meaning to take it over to Marnie, but-”

“I completely understand,” Sam interrupts, grabbing the jacket. “Sebastian and I will take it to her.” 

“Thank you, kids,” Gus says, mouth folding into a sort of droopy smile. “That’s kind of you.”

“Mhm.” Sam says abruptly. “Let Mom know if you need anything.”

And then he drags Sebastian out by the arm.

“Why’d you  _ lie _ ?” Sebastian hisses at him, once they’re outside. “And why’d you implicate me in  _ your _ lie?”

“I had to!” Sam says. “And besides, we will give it back! Eventually.”

“Eventually!” Sebastian reels. “Knowing you, you’ll leave it on your floor for months!”

“Dude,” Sam shouts, and Sebastian notices with guilt the genuine hurt in his tone. “What is UP with you today? You are being such an asshole! I can’t believe you-”

Abby, who has been waiting outside with the rest of the group, coughs. Sebastian flushes and realizes he’d forgotten his surroundings for a moment in his indignation. Alex and Maru definitely heard all of that.

“How’d it go, guys?” 

“Well,” Sam says matter-of-factly, holding up the ragged Jojamart hoodie. “We got this.”

“Nice,” Maru responds. “That’s the perfect object.”

~

The walk back to Pierre’s is deeply awkward, and Sebastian jumps when Alex puts a hand on his shoulder. The two of them are lagging behind the rest.

“I’m sure it’ll work out,” Alex says. “You two are best friends.”

“I’m going to apologize,” Sebastian shrugs off the hand on his shoulder. “But thanks. I guess.” That has to be enough.

~

While Abby, Maru, and Alex set up a bunch of useless candles in the Yoba shrine behind Pierre’s, Sebastian takes Sam aside.

“I’m sorry,” he says. “I didn’t mean to be a dick.”

“It’s okay, dude. I’m just a little- well. Shane was my coworker.”

“Yeah,” Sebastian takes the plunge and hugs him. “I know. I’m sorry.”

“You already said that, Sebby.”

“They were two different sorries.”

Sam’s cologne is nice, Sebastian thinks. He’s been wearing it since ninth grade, and Sebastian still doesn’t know what brand it is. He doesn’t know how Sam feels, but he’d call hugging it out in the hallway for over a minute kind of intimate. 

Hugging Sam is nice despite his sharp edges; he hugs with his whole body. The familiarity of it reminds Sebastian of rewatching the old sci-fi serials his mom had shown he and Maru when they were kids - before she started picking apart their scientific inaccuracies.

Sometimes Sebastian thinks he could buy a dorky anime dakimakura and never have to think about boys again, but right now isn’t one of those moments.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summoning ghosts isn't actual as hard as one might think, or: wow, that's a lot of candles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual, a huge thanks to Beck @lilyfrogart on tumblr and Bree @tehmoonofficial on ao3! Thanks for all your help!
> 
> Just a quick warning - this chapter contains VERY brief mentions of suicide, and some insensitivity on Alex's part. If you'd like to avoid that, where to stop/begin reading and a summary are in the end notes.

Maru

“Are we all set up?” Maru asks, stepping back to admire their work. The shrine room is full of candles- originally, they’d planned to use only tea candles, but they’d run out, so among the number are some Maru and Sebastian had made as children. The room is hot with flame, and Maru is pleased to see her candles burning as brightly as the rest.

“Wow,” Sam says, stepping back into the room with Sebastian. “That is uh…”

“A mess,” Sebastian finishes. “But it definitely makes me feel like we’re about to conduct a seance.”

“It’s because we are.” Abigail says, returning Sebastian’s borrowed lighter with a flourish. “Also, yeah, I think that’s everything. We probably have more candles than we need, actually.”

“Definitely,” Alex confirms. Maru is pleased that he seems more comfortable, but he still doesn’t talk much. She wonders if it’s shyness, or if he really just doesn’t have much to say.

“Can we try to, like, not burn this perfectly good room down?” Sam says, and flops into a sitting position inside the circle the candles have created.

“Sure,” Abigail replies, sitting to Sam’s left, directly in front of the shrine itself. “But, like, wouldn’t it be kind of cool if we did?”

“Hot, actually,” Sebastian says, and sits on Sam’s other side. 

Maru carefully folds her legs beneath her as she takes her place next to Abigail. She smiles at her brother’s joke, but not because it’s funny.

Alex closes the door, draws the blinds, and completes the circle, but he’s a lot closer to Maru than Sebastian, she notices. Maybe Alex finds him intimidating; the thought is enough to make her smile.

In the dark, with the light of dozens of candles drawing long, dancing shadows on the walls, the space feels very small and very hot, and Maru feels her chest tighten with an anticipation she hadn’t expected. 

Maru doesn’t believe in ghosts. Not really. She likes Abigail and likes her brother, wanted to sate her own curiosity about the whole thing, and had most of all been lonely. But now, supernatural guidebook open in her lap, spirit board in front of her, the faces of four of her peers writ bright in the candlelight, they feel very real indeed. Maru thinks of Shane, who she never really knew, but who is, if Abigail is to be believed, in here with them.

“So…” Sebastian starts.

“Right,” Abigail says, and Maru realizes with some self consciousness that she’d been looking at her.

Abigail holds up the jacket with one hand and holds Sam’s with the other. It’s a sad, torn thing, but it seems right in her grasp.

“Uh. Hi.” She starts.

Alex coughs.

“So… Shane. We have your jacket, which is an earthly possession very close to you. We want to know who….who killed you.”

Abigail’s eyes are wide, her pupils dilated. Her hair looks like purple chrome in the flickering light. Maru wants to bottle a little bit of that wild, that alive. It wouldn’t be too hard to get some, she thinks, when Abigail is exuding it in waves.

Slowly, one by one, they put their hands on the planchette. The room may be unbearably hot, but the warmth of her friend’s fingers is only a reassurance to Maru. She notices, suddenly, that Sam’s arm is shaking. His other hand is still gripping Sebastian’s, and Maru realizes he must be afraid of ghosts.

“Shane, are you here?” 

The planchette shivers. Sam shivers. Maru’s mind runs at a million miles per hour.

In a flurry of motion, the planchette flings itself off the board. Abigail catches it, and before Maru can stop herself, she’s let out a quiet whoop. Holy shit. Ghosts are real. Abigail is hot as fuck. Sam is afraid of ghosts. Short sentences.

“Shane?” Sam says.

And then he’s there. 

“What the hell, you guys? I was asleep.” 

Shane’s jacket is gone, exposing a sleeve tattoo and hairy arms. He doesn’t seem much different than he did alive, except he looks like he’s been dragged into photoshop and had his opacity lowered to around 85%.

Maru gasps. Abigail’s mouth drops open. Shane hovers. It is Alex who speaks, surprising everyone.

“Wow, I didn’t know you had a Tunnelers tattoo!”

Shane pinches the bridge of his nose like he has a headache. He draws in kind of a gasping breath, even though ghosts should logically not have to breathe. Maru feels like she should be talking notes. 

“Uh, yeah. They’re my favorite team.”

Faintly, Sam says, “Sometimes I watch the Tunnelers.”

Sebastian, sounding exasperated, and still holding Sam’s hand, interrupts.

“No more sports talk.”

“Awww,” Alex bemoans. “Why do you have to be such a nerd?”

“Ignoring that. Also, Shane. Uh. Good to see you, like, not dead.”

“Oh, I’m still dead.”

“Right.… Sorry?”

Abigail recovers just in time.

“Shane! You’re a ghost! Which means you died! So! Tell us about that!”

Maru watches as Shane flinches. 

“Is that why you summoned me? Or whatever you have going on here with the uh. Interior decorating?” Shane is holding a palm against his forehead now, and his eyebrows are pressed together like he’s concentrating.

“Yes,” Abigail responds. “Why else would we?”

Shane seems a little hurt, but Maru doesn’t think Abigail catches it. The expression passes over his face and disappears in an instant.

“Uh, I don’t know. I figured it would be to ask why I did it?”

“Did what?” Abigail asks.

“I mean…” Shane’s chin wrinkles. “I killed myself, right?” His edges fuzz a little.

Alex jerks back like he’s been burned. 

“You killed yourself?!” he yells, sounding interrogatory. “Do you have ANY idea how much this hurt  _ everyone-” _

“Stop, Alex!” Abigail snaps back. “Have a little empathy!”

“Wait, so I didn’t kill myself?”

All heads turn back to Shane.

Sam speaks up. “You don’t... remember?”

Shane flushes. “I was blackout drunk, I think,” he admits. He seems to double down and his face is really scrunched up now. “I want- I want to know what happened to me.”

“You look like you’re in pain... are you okay?” Maru asks, because she can’t ignore it any longer.

“What?” Shane asks, like he’s only just now noticed her. His eyes are unfocused. “Oh, yeah. It takes… a lot of concentration to stay corporeal like this.”

Maru flips back to a page she remembers from earlier.

“The book said something about that… here it is. Right here it says ‘possession is usually recommended for longer visits from those beyond the veil’. I wish it wasn’t so vague.”

But the others know exactly what it means, and Maru does too.

“I’ll do it.” Abigail says. She stands, tall and defiant.

But Maru isn’t going to let her do this just because she looks confident.

“Abigail, stop. We have no idea what this could do to the human body! We need to do more research.”

“Well, it doesn’t say right there that it kills you! Shane deserves to know what happened to him. We can figure something else out soon.”

“Abby...I don’t think this is a good idea.” Sam looks like he’s ready to restrain her himself, but he looks to Sebastian, and so do Maru and Abigail. 

“Sebastian, what do you think?” Abigail asks him. He’s silent for a moment.

“I trust your judgement.” He doesn’t look happy about it, but he looks right at Abigail, and then past her to Shane, who is bent almost double with the effort of it. His eyes flick to Maru for just a moment, and his expression tightens.

Maru decides that, just this once, she’s going to get angry about it.

“Seb, now is not the time to make this about the stupid sibling rivalry you invented! Abby is more important than- than your  _ bullshit _ !”

To his credit, Sebastian doesn’t take the bait.

“I’m not. For  _ once _ , can you just accept that I really disagree? You’re not always right, and saying that doesn’t mean I hate you!”

Maru swallows her pride, and looks, herself, at Shane.

She remembers the call, yesterday. It had been early, before she’d even started getting ready to head down to the clinic. 7 AM, she thinks. Harvey had called her, distraught, and told her. He’d told her what had happened, that she shouldn’t come in that week. He hadn’t listened to any of her protests. ‘ _ We all need time,’  _ he’d said. 

And, Maru thinks, he was right. Her hands shake.

“...Fine.”

Sam pulls his hand away from Sebastian’s and looks down at his lap.

“If I’m going to do it,” Abigail says, “It has to happen  _ now.” _

Maru flips through the book, frantic, but Abigail has a Look on her face.

“Shane,” she says. “Do whatever you need to do.”

Shane doesn’t look like  _ he  _ knows what he needs to do, but he reaches his hand out, and Abigail clasps it in hers.

Whatever of Shane she is holding disappears, and her fingers go limp. All 36 candles go out in a sudden gust of freezing wind. The room is filled with smoke. 

Abby collapses backwards, eyes wide open and pure white, and Maru only just catches her and drags her into her lap. She gently sets Abigail on the floor next to her. She doesn’t look like she’s breathing. Her eyes fall gently shut. Fuck.

“Oh God,” Maru says. “Fuck. I need to- I need to perform CPR. Somebody take the book. And call Harvey.” Maru doesn’t know where to put her hands. They move frantically. 

“I’ve got it,” Sebastian is already dialing the clinic’s number. “You can do this.” And, somehow, Sebastian knows that must center her.

Maru is trained. She knows all the steps, has practiced this, knows what she’s doing.

Right now, as she checks for breathing and detects nothing, none of that feels like it matters.

She pinches Abigail’s nose delicately and presses their lips together. She is breathing her life into Abigail, she thinks. She has to wake up.

She checks for a pulse. Nothing. Fuck.

“Please don’t let me shatter your ribs,” Maru whispers, and hopes Yoba hears it.

Maru does compressions, forces her hands against Abigail’s still chest, drips tears onto her shirt, and then her face again when fifteen compressions doesn’t wake her up.

She’s just leaning back to start compressions again when Abigail’s eyes flutter open solid lime green.

“You’re not breathing,” Maru says, disbelieving. 

“Oh, right.” And Abigail’s chest heaves.

“It worked.” Maru gasps. She takes off her glasses and wipes at her eyes.

“I, uh. Yeah,” Shane says in Abigail’s voice. He pushes her body up. He’s floating, seemingly without noticing. Abigail’s hair is splayed weightlessly behind him.

Maru shoves the glasses back onto her nose and follows him up. “Don’t you ever do anything like that with Abby’s body again. I thought she was dying!”

Shane looks guilty with Abigail’s face. “I’m sorry. And, for what it’s worth, Abigail says she is, too.” 

“She should be,” Sebastian mutters, putting down the phone. “I just had to call Harvey back and tell him there wasn’t an emergency after all.”

“Wait,” Maru ignores Sebastian’s complaints. “You can hear Abby?” 

“Yeah.” Shane says. “I hear everything she wants me to, and some stuff I don’t actually want to hear, too. Her thoughts are… loud.”

“What’s she thinking about?” Sam asks. Maru was so focused on performing CPR that she didn’t notice it, but he must have been crying too. His cheeks are stained, his collar wet. He looks cheerful, now, though, mood turned on a pin. She wonders how he does that.

“She shut me out as soon as you said that.”

“Aww, man. That must mean those thoughts were extra juicy.”

“Ew. Juicy thoughts.” Sebastian says. “Sounds all gross, and, like, drippy.”

~

  
  
  


Sam

The shrine is smoky and the air scrapes against Sam’s throat as he inhales. Somehow the most functional, he herds everyone into Abby’s room. Another circle. 

Sebastian sits next to Sam again, but he pushes himself close this time. Sam knows he’s upset and anxious and sick of people, and he chooses to put his frustrations on standby until later. He puts his hand on Sebastian’s shoulder bracingly. He’s warm. Sam leans in for just a moment and lets himself feel better.

Shane floats on Sam’s other side. 

“Do you want to, like, sit down?” Alex asks.

Shane flushes like Sam rarely saw him do when he was alive.

“The floating is kind of automatic, I think.” he mutters. Instead of floating to the ground gently like Sam had half-expected, Shane just kind of seems to flip a gravity switch. Abigail’s body falls half a foot. 

Sam winces. He watches Maru tense. Sebastian stills under his arm.

He regrets the laughter that comes bubbling out of his throat before it even happens, but once he’s started, he can’t stop.

It feels like a wave breaking. The tense atmosphere seems to waver and, then, as Alex tosses his head back and joins in, evaporate. 

Maru, looking befuddled, seems to chuckle out of instinct. Sebastian smiles and exhales out of his nose.

Sam doesn’t miss the way Shane closes his eyes and soaks up the moment. He must know, intimately, that he is living on borrowed time.

~

“So, where do we start?” Sam asks. It’s almost a non-sequitur except everybody knows exactly what he means. 

“Well,” Maru says, “Elliott found the body. On the beach.” She stares piercingly at Shane. 

“We should go talk to Elliott,” Shane rushes, and then covers his mouth like he hadn’t meant to say it.

“Abigail?” Sam breathes.

“Yeah,” Shane says. “That was, uh. That was her. Maru was staring at us-”

“I was not!” Maru yelps.

“Us?” Alex inquires.

“You were definitely staring, Maru,” Sebastian says.

Split between the two conversations, Sam decides to avoid mentioning that Maru was totally staring. 

“Hey, yeah, wait,” He says. “Us?”

Shane blinks. 

“Sometimes it feels like - Us.” He says. “But mostly it’s just me.”

Sebastian smiles. “C’mon. Of course there’s no way that Abby would just let somebody pilot her fleshsuit without any of her input.”

Shane smiles. “Fleshsuit. That  _ is _ what she calls it.”

Sam frowns. “Gross.”

And suddenly he makes eye contact with Maru, sitting on Shane’s other side.

_ Is this what mlm wlw solidarity is? _ Sam thinks, suddenly.  _ Oh God. Does she even know I’m into Sebastian?  _

It’s a lot to ponder, and Sam is relieved when Maru’s eyes slide off him. It’s unsettling, he thinks, to be caught in her gaze. She looks, always, with scrutiny, like she’s assessing something. Collecting some kind of data, or something.

“Guys, we should probably go now?” Alex says. “It’s like 3 pm. We don’t want to wait too long.”

“Sure,” Sam says, just as Shane says “Right.”

~

As they approach the beach, Shane starts to sag a little. Abigail’s toes touch the ground. Sam watches her shoes drag against the sand. Shane’s eyes cast downward, and in the glare of the afternoon sun, the unnatural green seems almost diminished.

Sam taps Abigail’s- Shane’s- Sam taps their shoulder. “You okay in there, bud?”

Shane whips his head up, like he wasn’t paying attention.

“I think this body is tired of having me in it,” he explains. “Getting in was, uh, pretty rough. Abigail is getting snarkier.”

Sam takes Shane’s hand and drags Abigail’s body towards the rest of the group like a flagging balloon.

“Guys?” He says. “Apparently Abigail’s body is getting… tired?”

“Yeah, I think the book said something like that,” Sebastian responds. “It didn’t say how long it would take, though. Just that it varies from person to person.”

“Wait, so,” Sam says. “Are we just gonna, like, pass Shane’s soul around like a hacky-sack until we find out what happened?”

Sebastian frowns. “I’ll do some more reading as soon as we’re done talking to Elliott, but I don’t know if we really have many other options. Shane might start remembering, so we want him to be here for all of this. Plus, there was something about dismissing spirits early and the consequences of that in there?”

Maru, sounding just like she’s asking a teacher, asks, “What about sleeping?”

Sebastian looks pleased to be treated as an authority on anything by his sister, but his eyebrows draw together in thought. “I’ll read into it, like I said. For now, let’s just say we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it?”

“Bridge…” Shane mutters. Sam almost doesn’t catch it.

“Hm,” Maru’s eyebrows draw together and Sam can  _ tell _ she’s starting to boil over, but she just says “Okay.”

Sam finds himself a little amazed by how similar Maru and Sebastian can really be when they’re not focused on the things that separate them. Both of them will grit their teeth and bear it, Sebastian’s fuse is just shorter.

(And thank God that Maru is patient, because Sam suspects her real anger is not something that can be reasoned with.)

“I’ll go next,” Maru says suddenly and earnestly, and Sam’s internal monologue is shattered because she keeps surprising him. 

Sebastian opens his mouth and Sam watches as he realises the hypocrisy of whatever he’s about to say.

“Okay,” Sebastian finally settles. “Okay.”

“Okay,” Sam says, and the others stare when he doesn’t continue. “I just wanted to feel included.”

“Also,” He adds, “We’re here.”

Shane bumps lazily against Sam’s side, and it is impossible not to notice the contrast of Abigail’s lazy stance with Shane’s panicked eyes.

“Shane isn’t looking too good,” Alex says. “Should he and Maru, like, do the thing?”

“Gross,” Sebastian says. “Don’t call it  _ that. _ ” Sam suppresses his snicker.

“Yeah.” Shane ignores Sebastian altogether. “We should.”

“So like, what. We just camp outside Elliott’s house? What if Leah finds us?” Sam asks. “Alex said she was around.”

“No, guys,” Maru says, exasperation dripping off her like as many flickering candles. “You can go in. Abby and I will….do the thing...outside,”

Sebastian winces. “First of all, wording. Second of all - what if something happens?”

“Oh my Yoba,” Maru says, and Sam watches her barely keep it together. “You weren’t this worried when it was Abigail! Just let me,” she tacks on a hasty “Please,” to the end, but Sebastian doesn’t look quite convinced.

“I  _ was _ worried,” he mutters. “But - I - okay. As long as I can stay out here with you.”

“Fine!” Maru responds, a near shout. Sam wonders why exactly she was so intent on doing it alone. 

“So me and Alex are gonna ask the questions?” Sam asks. “This doesn’t uh. This doesn’t really sound like a good idea.”

“Look, Sam,” Maru snaps, and then, more softly. “I get it. But we - we don’t have infinite time here.”

“You’ll be fine,” Shane mumbles. “Just do that magic customer service thing you used to do.” Sam smiles.

“If it makes you feel any better,” Sebastian says, flushing, “You’re better at talking to people than  _ I _ am.” (Sam is privately grateful that Alex doesn’t say whatever snide comment about how _ that isn’t hard _ that Sam thinks is hiding in his throat.)

“What, I don’t get a pep talk?” Is what Alex says instead.

“Don’t say anything.” Sebastian responds facetiously.

~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY GUYS !! Thank you so much for the extremely positive response to the first chapter! Your comments help me work faster! :)
> 
> For the suicide mention and insensitivity, stop reading here:  
> "Shane seems a little hurt, but Maru doesn’t think Abigail catches it. The expression passes over his face and disappears in an instant."  
> and start again once you get to:  
> "Sam speaks up. “You don’t... remember?”"  
> basically all that happens here is that Shane thinks he commited suicide, the others react with doubt, and Alex is kind of a shithead.
> 
> As always, concrit and comments in general are appreciated!

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is my baby and I've been working on it for months!! The people at the stardew discord server I'm in are lovely, lovely people, and I can't post their fanart yet simply because I don't want to spoil anything, but thank you so much to Kalu and Beck (for the second time) for helping motivate me with your beautiful art!
> 
> Comments including concrit are welcome :)


End file.
